Tim Burton acts "crazy" and talks to himself on the street to stop people from bothering him.

The 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' director admits he developed his unusual defense mechanism to avoid constant attention from fans.

Burton and Johnny Depp at the premiere of 'Sweeney Todd' in Paris recently.

Burton said: "If you want people to leave you alone then appearing to be crazy is a good thing. If you're walking down the street talking to yourself people tend to give you a wide berth!

"But I've always been blessed with being easily ignored or avoided. I think maybe it's because people think I look a little crazy."

Burton - who has two children, a one-month-old daughter, who he is yet to name, and a four-year-old son Billy, with long-term partner Helena Bonham Carter - claims he has always felt like an "outsider".

The eccentric filmmaker - who is renowned for his surreal, gothic films including 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' - said: "I have always been an outsider. As a kid I identified with the monsters in the old horror films, like the 'Creature from the Blue Lagoon' and 'Frankenstein'."

Helena Bonham Carter and Ed Sanders in 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' (2007)